Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer

...and odd characters. Sima Qian original: Ssŭ-ma Ch’ien does not say, nor does he lead the reader to believe, that he himself had ever seen the book in question. Nor does he even hint (see page v) that Chuang Tzu drew his inspiration from a book, but only from the “sayings” of Lao Tzu.

Confucius never mentions this book. Neither does Mencius, China’s “Second Sage,” who was born about one hundred years after the death of the First Confucius.

But all this is a minor detail compared with the fact that Chuang Tzu himself never once refers to such a book. Even so, now in this nineteenth century, there are some—fortunately few in number—who believe that we possess the actual work written by Lao Tzu himself. It is, perhaps, even more fortunate that this small group cannot be said to include even one prominent Chinese scholar. In fact, as far as I know, the entire range of Chinese literature yields only the name of one such individual who has ever believed in the authenticity of the so-called Tao Te Ching original: Tao-Tê-Ching.¹ Even he would probably have remained unknown to fame had he not been the brother of the famous Su Dongpo original: Su Tung-p’o.²

Chuang Tzu, indeed, attributes sayings to Lao Tzu which are now found in the Tao Te Ching, mixed with a great many other similar sayings that are not found there. But he also attributes sayings, which now appear in the Tao Te Ching, to the mouths of—

¹ The Classic original: Canon of the Way original: Tao, and of Virtue original: Tê, which is the practical application of the Way. See p. 45. I have discussed the claims of this work at some length in The Remains of Lao Tzu: Hong Kong, 1886.

² The brilliant philosopher, statesman, poet, and scholar of the Song original: Sung dynasty (1036–1101).